Sunday, 22 May 2011

The Big Reveal

After another major drill bit stickage which took several more hours to extract, this blue pipe which is connected via a copper pipe to the plastic pipe upstairs, which in turn is connected to the cold water system in the airing cupboard, was inserted into the hole that took so much time, sweat and destroyed masonary bits to create...

emerging into this trench just outside the house (after another half hour of me smashing a large steel spike into the hole to yet further enlarge it)...

...which was dug this morning by these men, thus explaining the road closure! Our cold water main has today been replaced, ending almost a decade for us of low water pressure. Finally, I think we have found a plumber who knows his business. The old main was partly lead, partly very corroded galvanized steel. And best of all, the council had to pay for all this.

Good thing they quickly found the problem and took action before it became worse. You have to let them remove those lead pipes. Those things are dangerous. They must be replaced with safer alternatives such as stainless steel.

When we bought this house in 2002, we spent all our budget on space. The house was perfectly habitable, but we knew there was lots of work to do. Insulation, modernization, restoration, and lots of other "ations." We might have thought twice if we'd known just what we were taking on....